OOTP companion piece
by Jayan phoenix
Summary: this will contain more background information for my fanfic
1. Ancient Houses of Britannia

The fall of Four of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses - By Lady Dorea Potter and Cassopia Black.

In the recent years, the lines of the Twenty four Noble and Most ancient Houses have been able to keep their power. however in recent times some have died without an heir, and many have lost their family seat on the wizengamot.

Grand Sorcerer Merlin created the the Noble Houses, and they were knights of Camalot.

in his final days he brought together the familes and bound them using his last magical enchantment, he gave them Familial Magic, the families names may changed over the years but with the help of the Ministry of magic records i have managed to find a record of the current Ancient and Noble Houses.

Abbot, Beldaviar, Black, Blake, Blakthorn, Bones, Burke, Caspo, Cavendish, Danvers, Du Vant, Eire, Flint, Gaunt, Gilbert, Greengrass, Longbottom, Macmillan, Maveric, Nott, Ollivander, Potter, Smithe, Weasley

of the Families above only four have been lost to time, it is possible that their are indirect heirs but none have come forward. it is hypothisied that they could continue in a squib line, and a muggle born could be an heir. the families that are currently no longer active are the; Caspo, Gaunt, Blakthorn and the Weasley Family.

the Caspo family has been without a magical heir for over four hundred years, the last Lord had five children all were born squibs. those lines have continued however and can be traced to the nobility of Muggle Britain. in an intresting note one decendant of the family was the Lady Anne Bolyne who late became Queen of England if the line of Tudor Monarchs had continued it is likely that the Royal family could have produced magical heirs.

The Gaunt Family is the decending family of Slytherin family, the House of Slytherin came to prominance arcoss the British Isles when Salazar Slytherin helped found Hogwarts school of witch craft and wizardry. The family has fallen from the High wizarding Society in the last three hundred years. the families magical power began to disipate due to inter mariage between cousins. the Last known Gaunt was Morfin Gaunt who was imprisoned and died in Azkaban for murdering three muggles.

the Ancient House of Blakthorn was destroyed in the war with Gellert Grindelwald in the twenith centuary, they had many ties to the Continant, and when they were staying in their Bulgarian Mansion, they were destroyed by Grindelwalds forces. No member survived the attack however there had been a string of Illigitimate children over the centruies, so it is possible the line continues.

The Weasley Family is very old, it is one of the many familes that can trace their ancestry to Godric Gryffindor. whilst the weasley family are no longer welcomed in the High society due to the loss of their family wealth and lands, they are still an ancient Family who could claim back there family seat if they gained the support. Many have noted that whilst the Weasley Family family do not have the social standing of the other Houses they are the most numerous Ancient family and they also have the one of the lowest number of Squib members second only to the House of Potter.


	2. Titles of the Ancient Houses

Rules of the use of Titles of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses

- By Lady Dorea Potter

Using examples from the Potter and Black family

**Before the marriage to Charlus Potter and Dorea Black**

Name: Charlus Edmond Potter - Dorea Ursula Black

Title: Earl of Potter - Daughter of House Black

Address: Lord Potter - Miss Black

**After marriage**

Name: Charlus Edmond Potter - Dorea Ursula Potter

Title: Earl of Potter - Countess of Potter

Address Lord Potter - Lady Potter

**Children of the Earl**

First Son

Name: James Sirius Potter

Title: Master James Potter

Address Mr Potter

Successive sons 

Name: Albus Severus Potter

Title: The Honourable Albus Potter

Address Mr Potter

All Daughters

Name: Lily Luna Potter

Title: The Lady Lily Potter

Address Lady Lily

**An Earl's Widow**

Name: Dorea Ursula Potter

Title: Dowager Countess of Potter

Address Lady Potter

**Earl's grandchildren**

Sons or daughters of James Sirius Potter

Sons and Daughters of the Heir are given the same titles that are bestowed on the children of the Earl.

Sons or daughters of Albus Severus Potter and other sons

Sons and Daughters of Albus would not receive any titles at birth; they could marry into another Ancient Family and receive a title.

Sons or daughters of Lily Luna Potter and other daughters

Sons and Daughters of Albus would not receive any titles at birth; they could marry into another Ancient Family and receive a title.

An example of this would be Dorea Black before her marriage; her parents had the title of Honourable through her father who was the third son of the Earl, and only gained her title when she married Charlus.

Titles of spouses

Titles do not transfer from wives to Husbands. As show by the below marriage between Lucretia Black daughter of the Earl of Black and Ignatius Prewett a member of House Prewett who was a member of a non-ancient house, however all male Titles will pass to their spouses at marriage.

Name: Lucretia Melania Prewett - Ignatius Prewett

Title: Lady Lucretia Prewett - Son of House Prewett

Address Lucretia - Mr Prewett

**Title of Earl**

The Title of Earl has not been in use for the last three hundred years as it fell out of fashion when the magical community succeeded from non-magical society. The Noble and Ancient Families Head of House would use the Title of Lord but they would not stylise themselves an Earl. The only time the title is used is on legal documents that state the laws and formal House Documents.

**Title of Countess**

the Title of Countess like is male counterpart is no longer used in modern Society, however all of the Ancient Families still have the jewelled Coronet which they will often wear to high society events. These events are one of the only time such jewellery is used as many families felt that it harboured back to days where magical and non magical elite coexisted


	3. The fall of the Potter Estate

The story of what happened when the Potter Estate was attacked and when James allowed the Family magic to take control and enter the blood rage. this is referenced in Chapter 32 of my Story Harry Potter and the New order of the Phoenix.

The fall of the Potter Estate

It was a year since Sirius had graduated from Hogwarts, but here he found himself sitting back in the Headmasters office, With James, Remus, Lily and Pete. Professor Dumbledore was in the middle of giving them an assignment in Diagon alley and Sirius found his mind drifting.

Remus sat back straight and focused on the headmaster, he looked peaky; the full moon was the night before so he should still have been resting, but war made him restless. Lily sat also paying close attention, and kept shooting him a look that told him that he should be doing the same. James sat there casually looking at the professor, Sirius smiled at his long-time friend, whilst it may look like he was paying close attention, Sirius knew that he wasn't and could tell that he was just as bored as he was. Pete sat there as fidgety as he always had been when he was in the office, he had always found the portraits spooky and unnerving.

"Sirius?" Dumbledore said pulling him out of his thought.

"Sorry Albus my concentration slipped" Sirius said smiling,

Dumbledore smiled also "I asked what your thoughts on the targets in the alley were?"

Sirius pondered the question for a moment "the only target will be Ollivander's."

"What about Gringotts?" Lily asked shocked by his answer "they have all the communities gold."

"That is true Lil's but they also control the Death Eaters gold, and the Goblins would die before they joined him now, the Death Eaters have been butchering a number of their clans." Remus said quitley "and the Death Eaters could never take full control of the bank, many of its functions are controlled by goblin magic."

"I also believe that Ollivander's Shop will be a target" Dumbledore said agreeing with Sirius "if wizards and witches cannot but wands they cannot defend themselves."

"It also means that we would either use less effective wands, or make do with family wands." Sirius said he had used many wands before he started school, his mother had insisted he start with more magical knowledge than any mudblood.

"I thought there was some form of ancient understanding with wand makers and Dark lords" James said frowning "Wand makers are neutral and they can continue their craft for the good of both sides."

"You are correct James" Dumbledore said nodding "but I do not think that Voldemort will follow the tradition. He was not raised with them as most of us are."

"What do you propose then Professor?" Peter said with interest

"Garrick will not leave the alley" Dumbledore said sadly "I have tried to convince him of the threat but he feel that the long standing understanding that either side will require the services of a wandmaker when one side wins. He is stubbornly refusing to leave his shop."

"We could rotate a guard for him?" Remus said offering his input whilst drinking for a cup of hot chocolate, his full moon remedy.

"A guard wouldn't work," lily said immediately "Mr Ollivander is a very skilled wizard he would detect us. Professor did he not take any precautions?"

"He agreed to send his son away from London to an undisclosed location as a safeguard for his family traditions." Dumbledore said "but he refused to allow any of his wands to be transported. I was wondering if perhaps you could rent a flat in the alley, I believe that one is available just opposite."

Sirius hid a smile, so this was the Headmaster plan, have James buy a flat that the order could use both as a safe house and to keep tabs on the wand maker. He looked at his friend but noticed that James wasn't paying any attention at all; he was staring off into space in the direction of his heir ring.

Sirius looked at his own finger, he been given the ring many years ago but he had chosen not to wear it since he ran away from home. He saw that Phineas Black was staring at him and he shot him a dirty look, Sirius winked at the portrait and was happy when he left the portrait.

"That could work professor" lily said evenly "have the order got the capital to buy such a residence?"

Lily in that moment reminded Sirius of Aunt Dorea, an upstanding pureblood elite woman. Alice had spent the last two months tutoring Lily in the traditions and customs that would be expected of her when she was married and when she became Lady Potter. Lily it seemed had also realised what the Headmaster wanted, to use the Potter Estate to finance this safe house.

"As you know Miss Evans the order does not have a large vault of gold to finance our mission." Dumbledore said, "I hate to ask but my own vaults have already been drained by the order, and the rest of my families money I gave to Aberforth to buy his bar. Would the Potter Estate be able to cover it?"

"As you are aware professor the Potter estate is in the control of James's parents, he does not have control of it" lily said sternly "The Potter Vaults are not going to finance the Order of the Phoenix."

Sirius laughed slightly as did Remus who managed to hide his smile with a small cough. Dumbledore looked at him hopefully "I do not have the gold to spare Headmaster, I only have what my uncle left to me and I have already bought a house and I only have my own wages keeping me afloat. I have been thrown from the House of Black, and hell will freeze over before I approach either my mother or my grandfather."

The Headmaster didn't looked surprised by their responses but disappointed, he turned to look at James "James what have you to say?" he asked quietly, and if Sirius was sure, sounded quiet desperate.

Sirius looked at James, as did everyone else, and to his surprise he hadn't moved since he last looked at him, Sirius frowned with concern, James had never been this inattentive in an Order meeting.

"James?" lily said quietly, touching his arm gently

James didn't seem to hear her; he kept staring at his ring and was frowning.

"James what –"Sirius started but James's head shot up and looked out of the window, his face contorted in fear.

"James what is it!" lily said urgently

Sirius's stomach dropped, the Ring on James's finger was glowing slightly. The heir rings could not channel the Family magic as strongly but they could channel it enough to make it glow. The room exploded with shards of glass from the cabinets and windows suddenly and lily screamed.

Sirius looked at James who was now shaking and he suddenly moved for the door, quicker than Sirius had ever seen him moved and he was out of the door in less than three seconds.

"Sirius! What is going on?" lily said crying slightly "what is wrong with James?"

"We need to go now!" Sirius said getting to his feet, he was not certain what was happening, but his instincts were screaming at him and he had learnt to trust them "Lily come with me, you should all get to the ministry and alert them, there has been attack on Lord and Lady Potter. Albus get the order!."

Sirius didn't waste another moment and dragged lily with him as fast as he could down the stairs

"Sirius where are we going? "Lily said between breaths as they ran the school corridors startling many students.

"James has gone straight for the School gates to apparate to the estate." He said quickly as they reached the staircase. He looked down and saw James was already at the bottom , "how did he get there so quick!"

Lily quickly pulled out her wand and with her free hand pulled Sirius over the edge of the stone balustrade. Sirius shouted for life, she had killed them, he heard students scream, he went for his wand when a shot of light sprang from next to him and he slowed down just before reaching the bottom.

"What the hell was that?" Sirius croaked between breathes, his heart was racing.

"Quickest way down" she said bluntly straightening her robes

Sirius nodded "bit of warning next time please Evans" he started to run again "we need to move quickly, he still has the head start"

"Sirius go, I will catch you up, you are faster than I am" she said urgently

He paused for a moment but nodded, and he broke into a sprint, he darted through the Entrance Hall and across the court yard, students were scattered and moved when they saw him and when they didn't they were forced to move by the spells from his wand.

When he reached the lawns he didn't stop, but continued to run before he caught sight of a familiar sight, a stag was running towards the gates at a break neck pace. If he had a moment he would have commented on his friend's brilliance but he needed to catch up and he began his own transformation.

He concentrated on the form of Padfoot and transformed whilst running, once he was a dog he could smell Prongs scent and took off after him, his four legs moving him quicker that his human two. But as fast as Padfoot was, Prongs was faster he reached the gates before Sirius and transformed and looked to be in incredible agony and he apparated once his feet were outside the gate.

Sirius quickly transformed back and with the same momentum twisted on the spot and was pulled through the suffocating abyss,

When he arrived at the Potter Estate boundary a horrific sight stood in front of him. The Gate House which has stood for a millennia and a half was destroyed, the gates were in the rubble and from what he could see of them they were mangled. He transformed back into Padfoot and ran across the estate, he could hear screams, a women's scream. He could smell burning and he could see that a portion of the Peverell manor was on fire.

He ran up the drive to where James was standing, he was duelling single handily fourteen Death Eaters, his face was contorted in rage, his wand was moving faster than even Padfoot could see and his spells were cutting into their ranks but he was managing to barely protect himself.

Sirius quickly transformed and blocked a spell that had almost hit is brother in all but blood and when he looked in front of him his blood went cold and he now understood why James looked angry and fearful, Dorea and Charlus had been caught and tied to metal stakes, both were limp, but Charlus looked worse, he was bleeding badly.

Sirius began to duel as hard as he could and began to use the spells taught to him as a son of the House of Black, dark and disgusting spells that he only used when he was in situations most dire. He saw that James was holding nothing back, Sirius was slightly scared of his best friend in that moment, he was so focused and ruthless with his spells he was reminded of Voldemort himself.

The Death Eaters began to realise that both he and James would not go down without dying and they began to use the killing curse. James didn't even falter, he conjured stones and transfigured them into larger barriers and sent the pieces back at them in the shape of metal swords, and impaled two death Eaters in the stomachs with them, Sirius managed to take out one of them before he took a cutting curse to his wand arm and was forced to cast with his left hand.

"James we need to break their ranks to get to them now!" Sirius exclaimed, he didn't see the Death Eater who had cast a Bright green curse at him, when he saw it he saw that he didn't have the time to move "Sorry James you are on your own now" he whispered to himself.

A spell suddenly knocked him sideways away from the path of the cure, he looked up and saw lily was flying towards them on a broom, her red hair flying around dangerously, she was sending spells at the death Eaters and she didn't miss a target and her spells cut through them and they started to retreat slightly.

"Stop!" shouted a Death Eater, Sirius turned and saw that he had his wand pointed at Charlus's heart "Drop your wands or I kill Lord Potter."

"You touch another hair on my parents head and I will kill you" James said in a low and cold voice, gritting his teeth

"You are strong lad, but I you cannot kill me, my master taught me spells you would never dream of." The Death Eater said and laughed "look at your home, the Ancient Houses will fall to the will of my master. Now drop your wands!"

None of them did, Lily and Sirius stood shoulder to shoulder with James, and they could feel him shaking with rage.

What happened next startled all of them, Charlus opened his eyes, for a moment they focused on the three of them, the deep calm blue eyes met their own and he smiled, he then blinked and it was replaced by glowing blue orbs and magic pulsated from him.

The Death Eater whose wand was trained on him stepped back and shouted "Avada Kedavra!"

And the light faded and Charlus slumped, Dorea began to sob hysterically. But the biggest change was James, his hand now glowed, and Sirius saw that he now had the Head of house ring, and then James's eyes changed to glow with hazel light and the magic radiated from him.

Sirius quick stepped away as did Lily, the Death Eaters were retreated into the house, but some remained and began to fire spells at them, James didn't raise he wand to defend himself, so they both raised shields to protect them.

"Potter stops this light show now!" the Death Eater shouted, his voice was shaking slightly "stop this now or your mother dies this night also."

James didn't move but the magic radiating from him doubled and two animals emerged, the Potter Griffin and the Peverell Thestral. They looked at James for a moment but it lasted less than a millisecond and then dived into him.

The magic that was pulsating from his stopped and Sirius was scared, his Grandfather had taught him to control Family magic, but it had been Charlus who had taught him the other forms it could take, and if he was right James was no longer James.

"James what is this magic?" lily asked looking at her fiancé in awe

James didn't answer her; he began to rise from the ground. The rage had intensified and he looked incredibly fierce, he opened his mouth and a loud screech was heard, it was deep and foreboding, the screech of the Potter Griffin.

"I warned you Potter, now your mother dies" the Death Eater whimpered and he raised his wand and pointed at Dorea, but James raised his hands and the five Death Eaters who were left outside the manor clutched their throats. Blood began to pour from their eyes, nose and ears and they screamed, a scream that set Sirius teeth on edge. The Death Eaters then began to burn, fire spread up their limbs consuming their flesh, their screams intensified and within twenty seconds they were a pile of ash.

"James you have saved Aunt Dorea, you can stop!" Sirius shouted but James didn't look at him, his eyes focused on the manor. Sirius took a step toward Dorea but James's head snapped to him and a screech escaped his mouth again, the look in his eyes terrified Sirius, it was a warning to keep away from his own. "Ok, I will stay away." He said and he backed away quickly

"Sirius what the hell is going on, why is he screeching? How did he do that?" Lily said tears pouring from her eyes

"Lil's, this is the Family magic, James has entered a state called Blood Rage. It is extremely powerful but dangerous; it is controlling him and is feeding on his rage." Sirius explained he needed to help Dorea; she was still sobbing hysterically, "Lily slowly approaches Dorea, you are his fiancé, I think the magic will recognise you as close kin."

Lily took a slow shaky step towards Dorea, but James paid her no attention, instead he looked back to the house, Lily continued and soon was kneeling in front of Dorea and began to mutter under her breath and spells pulsed from her wand.

Sirius looked back up at James and saw him move his hands again, he seemed to pulling something, and moment later hysterical screams reached his ears a moment later eight Death Eaters were pulled out of the manor by their feet, it looked like they were all attached to an invisible rope, many of them were trying to release themselves with magic but it did nothing.

Then they were lifted into the air level with James, his looked at them with no pity and they started to scream in agony and blood began to stream from their faces and then they too were consumed by the magical fire. James looked around and the loud screech escaped him again, he raised his hands and the thestral and Griffin formed and they flew straight into the manor, which started to crumble and fall, the structure that had stood proudly for generations was reduced to a pile of rubble. Sirius looked at it a felt his heart wrench.

Tonight he had lost the father figure in his life, a man who had raised him more than his own family, a man who took him in without a thought. he had also lost a home that he had never thought he come to cherish so much until that moment.

The sprit animals flew from the rubble and approached James, his eyes returned back to normal and the magic that pulsed from him stopped, he looked at the animals and inclined his head in respect and began to fall.

Sirius ran and began to cast a cushioning charm to halt his fall when the Griffin dived and caught James in its claws and lowered him to the ground gently. The Griffin looked at James for a long moment and then to Dorea who was had calmed down, she saw the Griffin and smiled slightly "thank you" she whispered

The griffin bowed to her, and then looked at Sirius and he saw that it now had deep blue eyes, eyes that had belonged to Charlus, and with that realisation the magic dissipated and was pulled into the Ring on James's finger, the thestral joining in a moment later.

Sirius fell to his knees, he had just witness the power of the Blood rage, a power Charlus had told him was as old as time itself. He remembered Charlus had told him a legend of the family magic, a member of the Caspo family had come back from the dead to protect his infant son from attack. Charlus never explained how it could have been possible as no magic can raise the dead, but now Sirius knew, the magic was a manifestation of previous heads of house, and it seemed Charlus was watching his family from beyond the grave, Sirius started to laugh hysterically, his body went into shock but he couldn't stop laughing, he wasn't even sure why it was funny, the Order and Ministry arrived a moment later and they quickly sedated him.


End file.
